Emilio Mola

Emilio Mola (9 June 1887-3 June 1937) was a general of Spain who led the far-right uprising by the Falange that led to the Spanish Civil War. He died in a plane crash in 1937, and Francisco Franco succeeded him.

Biography
Emilio Mola was born on 9 June 1887 in Placetas, Spanish Cuba, Spain. His uncle Leoncio Vidal was a Cuban independence fighter while his father served in the Spanish Army, fighting on opposite sides of the Cuban War of Independence. Mola served in the Spanish army and was a veteran of the Rif War, and he became a Brigadier-General in 1927. He collaborated with the Carlists in their uprising against the Frente Popular government, and he envisioned a dictatorship similar to that of Portugal under Antonio Salazar. Known as "the Director" to his allies, he served as Jose Sanjurjo's operational chief in the uprising that led to the Spanish Civil War. Mola coined the term "fifth column" to describe nationalists in Madrid who would rise up against Republican Spain to help his four columns of nationalist troops, and Mola led the nationalists until Francisco Franco was chosen as commander-in-chief of the Falange forces after Mola's junta in Burgos failed. The Paracuellos massacres in 1936 killed as many as 4,000 Nationalists in Madrid, elimintaing the "fifth column", which led to a long siege of Madrid. Mola did not live to see the end of the war, as he died in an air crash in 1937.